


Tony, Meet Teddy

by KiwisAndTea



Series: Teddy Stark [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Parent Tony Stark, Peter is screwed, Precious Peter Parker, Teddy is his only friend, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, successful co-parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 21:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19934428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiwisAndTea/pseuds/KiwisAndTea
Summary: There isn't a lot of Teddy to be seen beneath the red onesie designed to look like an early version of the Iron Man armor, just his fuzzy brown ears sticking out of the mask and all four paws, one of which is covered with a little plastic repulsor.-Part 2 of the Teddy Stark series. Would advise reading Part 1 first; it is part of another series but you only need to read the one.





	Tony, Meet Teddy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AllAroundYou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllAroundYou/gifts), [AvengetheDirection](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengetheDirection/gifts), [misswesterosi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misswesterosi/gifts), [LadyAriadna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAriadna/gifts), [ArdenSkyeHolmes221](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArdenSkyeHolmes221/gifts), [TheOceanIsMyInkwell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOceanIsMyInkwell/gifts), [name_me_regret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/name_me_regret/gifts), [swishandflickwit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swishandflickwit/gifts).



> If you have a problem with Peter calling Tony 'dad,' turn away now. Apparently I need to post a verbal warning despite all of the tags screaming father-son relationship.
> 
> Friends, nobles, countrymen, I present to you something you have all been waiting far too long for considering it's been done for months. But, like everything I write, I hate it and have to read/edit it a million times before even considering posting it. I am leaving the country (the c o u n t r y) for five weeks soon, so I feel like I have to give you all something.
> 
> So without further ado, the Teddy Stark content we've all been waiting for.

In the driver's seat, Tony makes a dramatic show of playing his steering wheel drums to the beat of Queen blasting through the radio. Peter laughs so hard tears blur his vision and he misses several chords on his pro-level air guitar-ing. They bang their heads in time with the music as it builds back up, and then belt out the lyrics in unison. Tony winks at him. A bicyclist pulls up beside them. The hotdog vendor on the sidewalk shoos a pigeon from his cart. It's a moment, stopped at a red light, that seems to last forever.

The second it turns green, Tony hits the gas and Peter grabs his door in a death grip.

"Just because it can go zero to sixty in three seconds doesn't mean you should make it go zero to sixty in three seconds," he wheezes out. The G's he pulls falling from buildings are far more palatable than Tony's driving.

Fingers tapping rhythmically against the wheel, Tony gives a put-upon sigh. "You sound just like Pepper."

"She's a smart woman. You should listen to her."

Laughing, he reaches a hand out to playfully bat at Peter's head. The teen only makes a half-hearted attempt to dodge. "Buzzkill."

"Maniac."

"I thought Spider-Man liked thrills."

"I like thrills, not almo— watch that— ohmygod." Peter cringes, one hand wrapped around his seatbelt and the other clinging desperately to the 'oh shit' handle, as they slide into another lane, narrowly missing the guy in front of them. "Why are you like this?"

They pass a couple more cars at an illegal speed, get honked at once, and turn a corner sharper than Peter's stomach likes before coming to an uncharacteristically gentle stop in front of his apartment building. "Like what?" Tony asks, unbuckling and turning to face him, "Rich? Handsome? Intelligent? _Cool?"_

"Humble? Dramatic?" Peter retorts, climbing out of the car and just barely refraining from kissing the dirty pavement in supplication.

"Those too."

He rolls his eyes, leading the way into the building and up the stairs. "Hardy-har-har, you're so funny."

Tony claps him on the shoulder as they reach the landing. "Good, your sarcasm's getting better," he says, and he sounds far more proud about it than he probably should be.

"Well, I learned from the best."

While Tony squints at him, he digs the keys from his pocket and avoids his eyes. "Even better. I can't quite tell if that one was sarcastic or not."

Peter puts the keys in the lock and swings into the apartment before he has to give a reply to that. "May!" he calls to his aunt, rushing to meet her as she comes around the couch to greet them and throwing himself into her arms. "I didn't think I'd get to see you again! He was driving like a madman. I thought for sure we were going to get in an accident."

"Oh, now who's being dramatic?"

May hugs him tight, but has long since learned to ignore his dramatics. "Is everything alright?"

Confused, he leans back to find her attention on the billionaire, not him.

Tony waves her concern away with a swift gesture and a smile, but it's far softer than anything he would give the press. "Everything's great, May. I just dropped the kid off because he's got something to show me. So come on, chop chop. We ain't got all day." He snaps his fingers at Peter with a demure smile masking what is sure to be an inwardly evil grin.

Peter blinks. "Wait, you were serious?"

The question deflates his bravado a little bit; his shoulders drop slightly and he finally pulls off his pink sunglasses, folding them neatly and slipping them into a breast pocket. "As a heart attack. You know, one of these days you're going to start believing me when I tell you things."

"But—." But why would he, Tony Stark, billionaire, literal superhero, want to see some kid's stuffed animal?

Tony's eyes narrow, and Peter immediately straightens because he gets the distinct impression that thinking of himself as 'some kid' is going to end badly for him. So either Tony has developed the ability to read minds or has somehow conditioned him to think better of himself.

(Peter isn't sure which option he prefers).

Whatever the reason, it's obvious that there is no way out of this. Peter sighs. "Fine, okay. He's in my room, come on."

Without waiting for any sort of reply, he turns on his heel and marches away, a little afraid to look back. There's no way he's making it through this without at least some minor embarrassment, and he wants it over with as soon as possible. One pair of light footsteps follow him into the room, the other stops in the doorway. Peter steps up onto the frame of his lower bunk and reaches across the upper for the bear where it sits next to a white dog in overalls and a striped shirt. There isn't a lot of Teddy to be seen beneath the red onesie designed to look like an early version of the Iron Man armor, just his fuzzy brown ears sticking out of the mask and all four paws, one of which is covered with a little plastic repulsor.

Peter stares at him for a moment before stepping down, remembering how excited he'd been when May and Ben took him to the mall. Little nine-year-old Peter, who'd just recently survived the Stark Expo, still wearing his Iron Man helmet every chance he got, dragging two grown adults all the way from the parking lot to the store. He was an early Christmas present.

When he turns around, Tony is situated in his desk chair with his feet propped up on the bottom bunk. Peter hands the bear over to his scrutiny and watches in awe as his smile grows.

"Is this a onesie?" he asks, flipping the bear around to get a good look at the clothing and shooting Peter a little smirk. "Must run in the family."

It's an argument he has still yet to win, and likely never will, so he bites his tongue and drops onto his bed. "You think?" he retorts with a little bit of mischief. "I know what I'm getting you for your birthday, then."

A gentle kick in the thigh is all the reprimand he gets for being a smartass. Tony studies the bear a bit more, running nimble fingers over the printed suit design before turning it around so that they are both looking at him. "So? What's the verdict? Who wore it better?" All Peter can do is laugh at the ridiculousness of the question, so the man swivels slightly and tries again, "May?"

May pretends to consider it for a second. "The bear, definitely."

Tony gasps. "I can't believe this. I thought we were friends."

"Don't take it personally," Peter tells him once he has caught his breath, "Teddy's been in the family for a long time. Plus, his armor is soft and less clunky."

"What happened to the other repulsor?" Tony asks, waving the bare paw as indication.

"Oh." He draws his feet up to sit cross legged on the bed and shrugs like it doesn't still bother him a little. "I lost it a long time ago."

"I kept telling him to leave Teddy at home." All eyes turn to May, leaning with her arms crossed in the doorway. "But that bear went everywhere with him, pretty much until Ned showed up. I have pictures," she says with that sparkle in her eye that makes Peter nervous.

His heartrate spikes at the suggestion. "May, no!"

Tony's feet hit the floor with a thud that is probably ten times louder in Peter's ears than everyone else's. "May, _yes."_

May disappears despite his protests and he slumps into himself in defeat until Teddy is placed in his lap. He's a little raggedy around the edges, with loose strings and small discolorations from years of constant companionship to a child, but still soft and still imbued with an inherent comfort so rarely found in anyone else. May has it. So does Tony.

"He's cute."

"Thanks."

"Reminds me of a certain spider-kid."

Peter's lips quirk up and he stands to put Teddy back on the top bunk. "Nah, much more like his namesake."

"You're too nice, kid. Who's his friend?"

The little white dog stares back at him with glassy blue eyes. Carefully, Peter lifts him from his spot, turning him over in his hands for a moment before showing him to the man. "This is Mr. Barker. He was my first, my parents took me right before they… left. We had matching outfits. I thought it was really cool at the time."

Tony wraps an arm around his shoulders and pulls him close for a side hug. "Hate to break it to you, Pete, but overalls were never very cool."

"Yeah, well." Peter shrugs, placing the stuffed animal back in its designated spot. "We can't all be fashionistas."

It gets him a more media worthy smile, one that morphs into something a little more sinister when May returns brandishing photos. "It's all I could find. I think all the others are buried in a box somewhere, or saved on Ben's old computer," she explains, batting Peter's frantic hands away as she passes them over.

He continues to grapple for the pictures Tony holds deliberately away from him, just shy of jumping for them — onto the man, if need be (Peter is _not_ afraid to tackle Iron Man) — when Tony coos in a very un-Tony-like fashion. Frozen in surprise, he catches a glimpse of the top photo, which is just Peter at the top of a playground, holding Teddy above his head like a trophy. Nothing sticks out in his memory to tell him what he was doing, or why, or even if it was May or Ben who took the photo, but he looks happy, smiling that childishly exuberant smile.

Then Tony tucks it behind the second, and his heart drops. It's him, curled up on their scratchy old couch, dead to the world, with Teddy wrapped up in gangly arms and legs. His hair is long and unruly, likely from being in the helmet all day, sticking out all over the place, jaw slack and face half buried in the stuffed bear he has in a death grip 

"Oh, that looks familiar." He waves the picture in Peter's direction with a small laugh. "Remember when Cho gave you the good stuff for that stab wound a couple months ago? You looked just like this, you just upgraded to the real deal."

No, in fact, Peter does not remember anything like that happening, and the implication is exponentially more awful the more he thinks on it.

"He went Full Octopus?"

"May!" Peter squeaks, betrayed again by the woman who claims to love him.

" _Full Octopus_?"

"Dad!"

Tony laughs, good and long and hard, gripping the bedframe to keep upright. "Oh god," he wheezes, wiping a tear from his eye. "I had no idea there was a term for it. That's— honestly, that's great, I'm going to use that. Maybe Pepper will finally understand the full extent of his stickiness. I literally could not peel him off of me."

May's wearing her ultra fond smile, the one she gets when she's about five seconds away from grabbing his face and drowning him in kisses, and he begs her with his eyes to cool it for like five more minutes. "He gets that way when he's sick or upset. The worse he feels, the clingier he gets."

"Noted. Can I get copies of these?"

She waves away his question and Peter resigns himself to a fate worse than death. "Keep them, I can print more."

If he's honest, Peter expected more fanfare. More teasing. More grotesquely parent-like behavior. Instead, Tony gives a soft "thanks" and tucks the larger photo of him on a playground into his jacket. The other, smaller one of him sleeping goes… right into his wallet. His _wallet._ Peter watches in slow motion as the very embarrassing, very personal picture of him as a _child_ slots easily into the leather as if it were meant to be and the offending object is placed back into his pocket like nothing happened.

There's no way in hell Tony knows the enormity of what he just did. Peter isn't even sure if carrying pictures of loved ones around like that is an actual thing or just something movies and TV shows do for the Drama TM, but it doesn't matter either way because that is not the kind of knowledge sitting around in Tony Stark's head.

Unfortunately, it's the kind of knowledge sitting around in Peter Parker's. He has a _dad_ and his _dad_ has a picture of _him_ in his _wallet_ because he _loves_ him and he wants to keep h—

No. Oh no. There's a picture of him, at nine-years-old, asleep and cuddling an Iron Man bear, in Iron Man's wallet. A veritable disaster.

Peter swears to _Loki_ (yeah, he went there) that if he sees Tony goddamn Stark whipping that photo out of his wallet to show people, he will make him Regret It. If he even hears about Tony letting anyone else see it, he _swears on his life_. Regret. It.

"Well, I'd better go before Pepper storms the castle looking for me. Bye, kid." Peter's so caught up in plotting theoretical (oh, alright, inevitable) revenge that the rough fingers sifting through his hair startle him, and all of a sudden he's pressed into a shoulder that is quickly becoming familiar. Nevertheless, he is quick to return the hug, however briefly it lasts, that warm-fuzzy feeling washing away his preemptive humiliation. "Catch you later, May. Keep him out of trouble."

May scoffs. "As if either of us has any control over him."

Tony stops in front of her and hums a confirmation. "Fair point," he says and then spins back to face the teen, "I'm putting Teddy in charge. Don't do anything he wouldn't approve of."

It's Peter's turn to scoff. "He's a stuffed bear."

"And would he approve of you staying out past curfew? I don't think so. Would he approve of you hiding injuries? Absolutely not. You know what?" Tony announces before walking back across the room to grab the bear in question and set him in the windowsill. "There. Now you have to look at him before you do anything stupid." A glance at his watch and he's back across the room, "Now I really gotta go. Good day, Parkers."

Peter watches him leave and then turns his gaze to his aunt, from whom he should really know better than to expect any sort of solidarity. She's been on Tony's side for months and he does not like the knowing-slash-teasing smile she wears now.

"I must admit, I didn't expect it to happen so fast," she says, dropping her arms and her playful look. "You two talked about it, then?"

He swallows hard, gaze fixed over her shoulder at the door Tony just left through, and nods. "Yeah. Yeah, we, uh— well, not everything, just kind of… I just explained, a little bit. Um. He was really understanding."

They hadn't talked more about it after Peter nearly cried himself to sleep in the lab, but the rest of their time together had been spent with a mutual sense of contentment. Nothing more needed to be said at that time, because he could tell there were things Tony was still unsure about, and there is a whole slew of things Peter himself is still unsure about, but it doesn't matter. They know where they stand now, and everything else will come in time. At least he's happy, and he's pretty sure Tony is, too.

"Well, that's good. I'd hate to have to kick his ass."

Peter laughs despite himself, and he feels loose and free and warm. He's been through hell and back, losing and gaining parents like a game of musical chairs, and suddenly he finds himself back up to two and they're both amazing and supportive. May closes the distance between them and wraps him up in her arms, where he rests his head on her shoulder and they sway gently together in companionable silence for a long while. It's a gesture of reassurance, to be able to hold one another after all they've been through. After his parents died, his abandonment issues made it necessary. After Ben died, it became mutual. Now he holds her to remind himself what he has to lose if he isn't careful, and she holds him to keep him safe.

"I'm happy you're happy, Peter."

And for the first time since Ben died he is, genuinely, happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to all of you who screamed at me about Teddy. I do really love this little bear, and there will be more of him, just probably not before I leave on my trip. The next one is probably the angstiest thing I've ever written (and I wrote Can We Make Our Dreams Come True) so it's been really hard because I am a fluff writer.
> 
> Anywho, hope you enjoyed. Come scream at me on Tumblr (@kiwisandtea) if you like.
> 
> For the record, Tony goes to his meeting and immediately breaks out the pictures of Peter to show Pepper once its over.


End file.
